All spectators had to wait, as was to be read later, and there were at least three million of them. Many companies had given the day off, the families had gone, it was a huge city party for millions of families and friends along at least 40 km.
The traffic is still flowing normally on the Coastal Boulevard, but it is gradually thinning out. It’s hot, very hot in the bright sunshine. It feels like 40 °C, but a look into the historical weather data for 8 May 2008 in ShenZhen reveals to me that temperatures rose to no more than 31 °C that day, humidity, 89 %, but virtually no wind. Therefore it felt so hot! The humidity is what makes the heat so hard to bear.
The Chinese around me are in high spirits, ever again chanting battle cries! Finally, the traffic on the six-lane road calms down, one can assume that it is now blocked, so the torch is coming soon. Not yet. First a few inquisitive cars and cyclists approach who somehow managed to get on the closed roads, waving flags and honking from open side windows, roof vents or riding one-handed. When they drive past the thousands of spectators, they reap applause and battle cries as if they were already the torch bearers.
The coppers are smiling, enjoy themselves, do not interfere. They even do not interfere as more and more viewers climb across the median of the six-lane road, a wide
A young father lets his daughter sleep at his shoulder, the heat and her exhaustion do not restrain his excitement.
The road is now blocked, which does not prevent some cyclists from performing their own show, challenging the audience to rapturous enthusiasm.
grass strip with trees, shrubs and flowers, because they also want to participate.
Finally the trek approaches. First, the car of the sponsors with the most beautiful young girls and women whom they could collect. They are followed by a bus – from it emerge the torch relay runners, they are positioned by the organisers every 100 m, with a not yet burning torch in hand. The spectators along the barriers reshuffle because they want to be at exactly that 100-meter section along which their idol is running. The torch bearers are athletes from the city, acquaintances of the company, neighbours, friends. Each individual torch bearer has a fandom of dozens to hundreds of people. There is a sizzling, effervescent mood.
It is rising to the peak as the burning torch arrives and the next torch is lit, the runner “runs” at a modest pace, this is not about speed but about symbolism. Three stages I can watch close-up, the next ones are already farther away, after a few minutes the show is over. It’s like catching fish: The fishing (waiting for fish) takes hours, disembowelling and preparation, half an hour, the fish are eaten within five minutes.
Later when I show my friends and staff the photos, especially those who live in ShenZhen and also were observing the rally are surprised: “What, you were that close? We’ve seen nothing, it was all too crowded!”
Four days later, the confident, continuously euphoric mood was suddenly tilted, when in SiChuan Province, a major earthquake occurred. Olympia had disappeared completely from the media and from the debates. It was a cold and also painful acid shower.
All of China mourned, all of China donated intensively (me too), all of China suffered with the emergency measures, all of China wept with the mourners (including me), many volunteers set out to help. All of China (me too) watched the media several times a day, in the company, after the football game we discussed it regularly – how do the rescue efforts proceed? Extent of damage? Could other people be saved? What do the survivors do, how will they find their way back to life? For what reasons did especially schools collapse like houses of cards?
Olympia was out of sight, out of mind. The torch relay was interrupted for several days, but then continued with a different route, and with a different mood and purpose. The message was: “Now more than ever”, matching the disposition of the nation. Olympia was increasingly associated with the earthquake, the spate of help grew stronger day by day. SiChuan was only visited on the penultimate day, before the arrival of the torch in BeiJing.
On the eighth of August at eight past eight (the “8” is an important lucky number in Chinese superstition) the opening ceremony begins. I plan to watch it in some restaurant during late dinner, supposing that in all the restaurants tellies will be set up. I wouldn’t like to watch the ceremony alone in my apartment, but all of my friends and colleagues are with their families and closer friends.